March is here and it wont be long until I’m painting flowering trees out back but this weekend was cold and I decided to stay close to home. Saturday was just too windy and I set up in the afternoon ad did a 9×12″ of the living room. Colley Whisson did this same view and I thank him for inspiring me. I just got word that he’ll b
e visiting with me in May. I look forward to catching up with him. He was just featured in International Artist magazine and his workshop is now sold out here in Atlanta. I was fortunate to get a spot and he’s staying here with us. Interesting that two of the illustrations in the article have a direct connection to me. I own his “Afternoon Light, Nashville” and his “Reading Room” is a painting of one of my upstairs bedrooms.
I’ve been working on this nocturne from the upstairs bathroom for a few weeks now. I started it one Sunday night and was frustrated by the reflection of any light source off the window so it forced me to take quick looks out the window and paint in a lit closet. I had a hard time of it that night and let it dry for a week or so. Next I did a few small thumbs one evening that allowed me to organize it a bit more then repaint it with those revisions in the studio. Finally, I took it back upstairs again this Sunday night and was able to finish it. I love nocturnes and as soon as the weather warms I will be out doing more.
This last view is of what I call the grotto. It’s a hole in my back yard filed with English Ivy that opens up on one side. Over the years I’ve worked on making it into a garden and It has a small bird bath, a gate that I’ve put in and will have the brick path that I simulated here. I’m still doing some construction on this “last project” and this painting is not quite finished either. It was cold and I had a hard time controlling my bright reflections with a brush so most of them are knifed in. Maybe just one more session.